The present invention relates to a document management system and more particularly to providing automatic archiving to standard office equipment.
With the rapid development of storage system technology, the cost of storing an image of a sheet of paper on digital media has become less than the cost of printing and storing the sheet of paper itself. Digital document storage also facilitates later electronic search and retrieval and raises the possibility of automatic filing of documents.
Until now, systematic digital document storage has required user discipline to scan in each and every document for the express purpose of archiving. Work has been done to make stand-alone scanners less expensive, easier to use, and more compact. However, the user must still 1) remember that a document should be scanned, 2) locate a scanner, 3) bring the document to the scanner, and 4) operate the scanner. However, scanning occurs constantly in the office environment in the contexts of copying and faxing.
The present invention provides an automatic archiving system that makes document archiving largely transparent to the user. In one embodiment, documents scanned in or printed during the course of office equipment operation are automatically archived. For example, an office local area network (LAN) may interconnect a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a document management workstation. Whenever, a document is copied, printed, or faxed, a document image is archived by the document management workstation without further user intervention. A single user command results in the document being copied and archived, printed and archived, or faxed and archived.
In accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a method for processing document images includes steps of receiving a single user input command and performing certain steps in response to the single user input command. The steps include scanning a document image to collect image data, printing the document image based on the image data, and sending the image data to an archiving system for storage.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, a method for printing and archiving documents includes steps of receiving a single user command requesting that a document be printed, printing the document in response to the single user command, and archiving image data representing the document in response to the single user command.
In accordance with a third aspect of the invention, a method for archiving documents to be faxed includes steps of receiving a single user command indicating that a document is to be faxed, scanning the document to be faxed in response to the single user command, transmitting first image data representing the document as scanned to a remote location via a public telephone network, and archiving, in response to the single user command, second image data representing the document as scanned in the scanning step.
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the invention, a computer installation includes a digital copier that scans in documents to be copied, a printer that prints documents, a computer system controlling a long-term storage medium, and a network interconnecting the digital copier, the printer, and the computer system. The digital copier relays image data representing the documents to be copied to the computer system for storage on the long-term storage medium. The printer, or a printer server controlling the printer, or a computer system initiating a command to print relays image data representing printed documents to the computer system for storage on the long-term storage medium.
In accordance with a fifth aspect of the invention, a digital copier includes a scanner that generates image data representing a document to be copied, an image processing unit that processes the image data to correct imaging errors introduced by the scan engine, a printer that copies the document responsive to the image data as processed by the image processing unit, and an image data tap that relays the image data to a storage system for archiving.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the inventions herein may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings.